Name: Levitate
Brand: Verve
SKU: 524142
Availability: OutOfStock

Levitate

Rating

Album: Levitate
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Black Rats Of London	More Info...	4:17
2)	Prairie Dog Town	More Info...	4:13
3)	Cyclone	More Info...	4:45
4)	Continents Drift	More Info...	7:23
5)	Paperboy	More Info...	3:03
6)	Invisible	More Info...	3:37
7)	Levitate	More Info...	4:08
8)	Here We Are Again	More Info...	3:53
9)	Space Is The Place	More Info...	4:24
10)	Michael Raphael	More Info...	2:55
11)	Simple Prayer	More Info...	4:05
12)	In The Low Country	More Info...	4:11

Album: Levitate
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Black Rats Of London	More Info...	4:17
2)	Prairie Dog Town	More Info...	4:13
3)	Cyclone	More Info...	4:45
4)	Continents Drift	More Info...	7:23
5)	Paperboy	More Info...	3:03
6)	Invisible	More Info...	3:37
7)	Levitate	More Info...	4:08
8)	Here We Are Again	More Info...	3:53
9)	Space Is The Place	More Info...	4:24
10)	Michael Raphael	More Info...	2:55
11)	Simple Prayer	More Info...	4:05
12)	In The Low Country	More Info...	4:11

Performer Notes

Personnel: Bruce Hornsby (vocals, dulcimer, piano, keyboards); Tim Smith , Eric D. Jackson, Z. Berg (vocals); John "J.T." Thomas, John Thomas (guitar, organ, keyboards); Doug Derryberry, R.S. Hornsby, Eric Clapton, Blake Mills (guitar); Bobby Read (reeds); Sonny Emory (drums).
Audio Mixers: Shawn Everett; Wayne Pooley.
Recording information: Tossington Sound; Zeitgeist Sounds.
Photographers: Carey Wilhelm; Sean Smith ; Katherine Fisher; Christian Amonson.
If there were any doubt that Bruce Hornsby had completely redefined himself as a "do whatever I want to" musician rather than the pop/rock singer/songwriter he had appeared to be upon his popular emergence 20 years earlier, that doubt should have been dispersed by his two album releases of 2007, the bluegrass duo set RICKY SKAGGS & BRUCE HORNSBY and the jazz trio session CAMP MEETING with Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette. That liberation accomplished at last, Hornsby unsurprisingly returned to the pop/rock singer/songwriter mode on LEVITATE, his first album since 1993's A NIGHT ON THE TOWN to be co-credited to his backup band. But his old group The Range is long gone, replaced by an ensemble pointedly called the Noisemakers, who have been backing him as a unit since 2002. The sound of LEVITATE only occasionally recalls the Bruce Hornsby of "That's the Way It Is," "Mandolin Rain," and "The Valley Road." Instead, he and the Noisemakers come up with combustible jazz-rock arrangements revealing the influence of Steely Dan (notably on "Paperboy") and Brian Wilson ("Michael Raphael"), used to support sometimes bizarrely humorous lyrics, as signaled by the opening song, "The Black Rats of London." The best songs here are co-compositions, particularly "Cyclone," with a strong, evocative, and characteristic lyric from former Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Old-time Hornsby fans who fell away over the years might want to give this one a listen; it's closer to his singer/songwriter self than he's been in many years.

Professional Reviews

Billboard (p.29) - "With scarcely a piano solo in sight, Hornsby lets the songwriting speak for itself, all while managing to encapsulate the very essence of his signature sound."